The present invention relates to medical treatment and, more particularly, to devices for aligning devices for intrusive entry into a portion of a body requiring medical treatment.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,451 I disclosed a stereotaxic array plug for insertion into the skull of a patient. The plug included a plurality of cannula, or holes, therethrough capable of guiding the insertion of a catheter, and the like, into a predetermined location within the brain of a patient. The devices which may be guided into the brain includes a multi-lumen catheter containing a microwave antenna and a thermistor for hyperthermic treatment of brain tumors. The latter device is disclosed in my allowed U.S patent application Ser. No. 779.285 now matured into U.S, Pat. No. 4,681,122. The disclosures of both of the above references are incorporated herein by reference.
Treatment for brain tumors may continue for times measured in days or months. The danger of infection requires that the opening in the scalp required for drilling and tapping the hole through the skull for insertion of the stereotaxic array plug must be closed immediately and must remain closed until the plug is removed at the end of treatment. It thus becomes a problem, with the scalp closed over the stereotaxic array plug, to find the hole for insertion of catheters and other medical devices through the scalp.
As a partial solution, my referenced stereotaxic array plug employs radiopaque markers in a predetermined pattern on the plug. The radiopaque markers are disposed in a fixed relation to the cannula. Accordingly, the radiopaque markers visible on an X-ray, CAT, NMR or SPECT image may be used to guide the physician in locating the desired cannula. This technique carries the disadvantage that it must be repeated each time treatment is to be performed.
In addition to treatment of tumors in the brain, means are required for guiding treatment to tumors in soft tissue such as, for example, the breast.